Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Purchases 3,001 Shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Lennar Co. (NYSE:LEN – Get Rating) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,661 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,001 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lennar were worth $1,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in Lennar by 65.5% in the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 790,021 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $64,127,000 after buying an additional 312,595 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Lennar by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,167,338 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $105,644,000 after buying an additional 268,156 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Lennar in the fourth quarter worth about $21,761,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Lennar by 50.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 472,040 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,191,000 after buying an additional 157,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in Lennar by 87.4% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 320,697 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $23,908,000 after buying an additional 149,547 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Diane J. Bessette sold 9,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total transaction of $958,253.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.53% of the company’s stock.

Lennar Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:LEN opened at $107.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 7.82, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Lennar Co. has a 12 month low of $62.54 and a 12 month high of $116.18. The company has a market cap of $31.23 billion, a PE ratio of 6.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.97.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The construction company reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.56. Lennar had a net margin of 13.86% and a return on equity of 21.18%. The business had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Lennar Co. will post 9.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Lennar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 26th were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 25th. Lennar’s payout ratio is 9.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LEN shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lennar from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Lennar in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $88.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $126.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lennar from $117.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lennar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.57.

About Lennar

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Lennar Corp. engages in the provision of real estate related financial and investment management services. It operates through the following segments: Homebuilding East, Central, Texas, and West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other. The Homebuilding East, Central, Texas, and West segment constructs and sells homes primarily for first-time, move-up, and active adult homebuyers primarily under the Lennar brand name.